If you’re a fan of Bill’s Place in LaGrange Park, get ready for double the excitement — and a drive-thru.
Bill’s Place Express, an offshoot of the original family-owned fast-food eatery, opened Monday, Sept. 22, at 8819 Ogden Ave. The restaurant serves American food and Chicago staples like hotdogs, gyros, Italian beef sandwiches, hamburgers, pizza puffs, chicken and more.
In the two weeks since opening, father and son duo Vasilios — also known as Bill, the restaurant’s namesake — and Demetrios Konstantopoulos said they’ve been feeling welcomed back into Brookfield, where Bill first opened his eatery in 1984 before moving it to its current location in LaGrange Park in 1995.
“We’re doing good so far,” Vasilios Konstantopoulos said. “I know people from Brookfield that didn’t want me to move, in the beginning, to the place I am now, but now that we’re back in Brookfield, I feel much better. Both villages, LaGrange [Park] and Brookfield, they are happy with me and, I hope, will continue to support me.”
“It’s a little busier than we thought. We were trying to get accustomed to things: new layout, smaller kitchen,” said Demetrios Konstantopoulos, who led much of the back-end work to bring the new location to Brookfield. “With the drive-thru, we have to be fast. We’ve been averaging less than three minutes per car, which is great. So far, so good.”
He said the new location has seen a mix of returning customers from the original spot and new customers.
John Dumas, a Brookfield resident who attended the village’s ribbon cutting for Bill’s Place Express on Thursday, said he was excited to see the restaurant return.
“I remember Bill’s going back to when he was on 31st Street in Brookfield,” he said, adding he felt the inclusion of a drive-thru was “fantastic.”
“I’m the same as everybody else, right? Nobody wants to go in if you don’t have to, so that’s great,” he said. “To have Bill back in Brookfield is great because he’s been around this area for so long. Such a great guy, such a good businessman. It’s wonderful to have him in town again.”
As a pescetarian, Dumas said his go-to order at Bill’s Place is a grilled cheese or a shrimp boat.
“If I go to LaGrange Park, I get the cheese pizza or something. He’s always got something for everybody. It’s a cliche, but it’s true. For people that don’t eat meat or have different dietary needs, he’s got that all covered.”
Like the original location, Bill’s Place Express is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day.
